


Back to the Start

by TruebornAlpha



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gentleness, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Spoilers, Tenderness, season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 09:15:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14951856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TruebornAlpha/pseuds/TruebornAlpha
Summary: Shiro and Keith can't fix everything, but they're going home.





	Back to the Start

Shiro couldn’t walk. It wasn’t a surprise. On legs that had not been entirely his, and after everything that happened, it was a lot to expect. Keith wouldn’t have let go anyway. There was still too much to think through. The promise of Earth buzzed through everyone’s minds, and a good night’s rest was enough to lure away the rest of their team. They needed shelter. They needed supplies. They needed a plan. 

 Just not right now. 

 Right now, all Keith needed was to hold on. 

 "Hey.” Little more than a huff of breath against his side chin, and Shiro’s head was resting on his shoulder. Keith’s grip around his waist tightened. When Shiro looked up, he got a nice full view of the inside of his nose, and for the first time in months he smiled. "That’s a nice shiner you got there.” 

“Worth it.” Keith didn’t even hesitate, still so serious. It was comforting that some things just never changed. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been dead for a year and had my soul ripped through existence.” Shiro said dryly as the worry gathered between Keith’s eyebrows. “Kidding. Sort of. I’m okay Keith, better than I’ve been in a long time.”

That seemed to ease the tension just a little, but Keith still held him close and Shiro wasn’t in a position to protest. Not that he would. He turned into Keith’s shoulder, solid and warm and real. The first real thing he’d touched in so long. It anchored him like nothing else could and made him feel alive.

“We’ll find a safe place to rest soon, we could all use some time off. Just hang on a little bit longer, Shiro.”

“Right now, I’ll settle for flat.”

He wormed another almost smile out of Keith, this one closer to the real thing. Shiro didn’t realize how badly he’d missed it.

At the back of each lion was a holding bay of sorts with sturdy metal shelves and lots of empty cabinets. Shiro wasn’t surprised to find a pod among the Black Lion’s supplies. Keith steered him away from it and helped him onto a narrow bed. The world tilted. Shiro sat down too heavily.

His right was empty, and Shiro refused to look at it. His balance his shot, his center shifted, but he would not acknowledge the absence that grated at his nerves. Instead he turned to find Keith staring down at him, his eyes wide and hands twitching at his side. It felt like a lifetime had passed. Shiro knew enough of wasted opportunities that nothing could stop him from looking his fill.

Keith’s hair was longer. It curled at the base of his throat, the worst sort of invitation when Shiro just wanted to push it back and drag his fingers along the column of Keith’s neck. His shoulders had broadened. His arms were unreal.  The bruise beneath his eye was nasty, but its balance was a sharp looking scar. Or a marking. It was dark and unwelcoming on Keith’s face. It made him look sterner. More dangerous.

“We have a lot to catch up on.” Shiro said softly.

Then Keith was throwing himself at him, arms tight around his shoulders, his face pressed into the soft mess of Shiro’s hair.

“I missed you so much.” He whispered, barely audible. He’d practiced them over and over again. Two years alone had given him plenty of time to think and plan, crafting his words and replaying every possible scenario in his head. Two years wondering if enough time had passed that Shiro even noticed he was gone. Keith had gone into this with a plan, but everything had fallen apart. Confessions blurted out in desperation with each heartbeat ticking down to the end when everything was tearing apart and they were lost and falling.

Now they were safe and for the first time in years, Shiro was here. His Shiro. This time, there wasn’t desperation when Keith said what he’d been holding on to for so long.

“I love you.”

Shiro’s breath hitched around a soft sigh as he ignored the pain to pull Keith down against him. When the tears gathered in his eyes, Shiro didn’t bother to stop them. “I’m sorry. You’re always having to save me.”

“Don’t apologize, just don’t.” Keith pulled back and cupped his hands around Shiro’s face, resting their foreheads together. “You never once gave up on me and I will never give up on you, understand? We’re going home.”

“Sorry.”

Keith scowled, but when Shiro looked up at him, the smallest smile tugged at the corner of Shiro’s lips. Cheeky. Keith paid it back with interest. Slowly, carefully, he ran his fingertips down the side of Shiro’s face, following the line of his throat to settle just beneath his jaw. His pulse was strongest there, steady and even despite the shadows under Shiro’s eyes. His hair was a shock of white that seemed to blanch his skin. Or maybe it was the quintessence that had saved him, or his time in that realm of shadows. Or the Black Lion.

Keith couldn’t know for certain, but there were too many things in the universe that had taken more than Shiro should have had to give. Keith didn’t know if he would forgive any of them.

“Keith…”

Keith startled, and realized he’d been caught staring. He didn’t pull away. Shiro’s voice had softened, but Keith could feel the way it moved through his throat when he spoke.

“When I- back there. When it was dark, and I thought of home, I thought of you.”

The words hung between them like a specter, almost a physical weight. Keith wasn’t sure how to answer when all the air had come out of his lungs. Shiro was watching him, eyes a touch too wide, but Keith smiled. His expression transformed in an instant. 

Keith looked away first, and it didn’t feel like he’d lost anything.

“That doesn’t look comfortable.” Keith murmured, his hand skimming over the collar of Shiro’s armor.  
  
“Forgot to pack pajamas.” Shiro shrugged, his face shifting with one of those apologies that made Keith shake his head.   
  
“Can I…?”  
  
Shiro never knew how to say no to him. The cuirass fell away with a quiet click, and the tension in his shoulders eased without its weight. Keith’s hands traced his shoulders, towards the places they curved into his arms, stopped before they could reach them, and turned back around. They moved across Shiro’s chest, along the dip of his clavicles and fanning out over the hollow of his throat. Shiro’s eyes fell shut, his lips parting but no words could form.  
  
“Is this okay?” Keith said from somewhere right above him, close enough that Shiro could feel the tickle of air across his skin. He wasn’t sure. He didn’t know. But if the alternative was Keith pulling away, Shiro would rather rip off his other arm than risk it.  
  
“Should be asking you. I’m pretty sure I smell.”

With a strangled little snort, Keith dragged his finger down to Shiro’s chest, tracing every single curve of muscle, every scar, every bruise like he could map them all to his mind. He took notice of each new wound and every familiar line with gentle fingertips. Shiro’s chest rose and fell beneath his touch, tension slowly easing from his broken body.

“I will always find you.”

Keith shifted and winced, but Shiro’s arm was ready to catch him and hold him steady. He curled his body around him and let his eyes flutter closed as the world tilted, exhaustion spiraling into vertigo. But he didn’t worry, not when Shiro kept him from falling. He could feel Shiro shudder against him, too tired to hide behind the smile.

Shiro didn’t know how to put any of it into words except for the apologies that danced on the tip of his tongue. He settled for shifting slightly and fought the awkward unbalanced loss of his arm so they could lie together, curled towards each other in the careless tangle of limbs. Skin on skin, real weight against his body. Every part of him screamed for the touch, deprived for months or years or centuries in timelessness, alone.

“Your pauldron’s digging into my side,” he said instead, and his eyes darted off Keith’s face, warmth prickling across his cheeks and up to his ears. “You should probably-”  
  
“Oh.” Keith started, then stopped. “Oh…”  
  
Shiro couldn’t watch him. There was a rustle of clothing and the clack of armor. Keith tossed his uniform aside with far more carelessness. He was already scrambling into bed before Shiro could find his nerve. Shiro swallowed down a gasp. Keith’s arm slung around his waist, as easily affectionate as ever, and something prickled in the back of his eye, threatening to spill. “That’s great but what’ll we do about your bony elbows?”

“I do not have bony elbows.” Keith pouted as defensive as ever, but then paused. “Do I?”

He sounded so plaintive that Shiro just laughed, rolling him over and tucking Keith close. It was so easy to fit together, it was like he’d found a missing piece. Bony elbows included. Something inside of him settled that Shiro, a rightness and a peace that knocked his heart against his bruised lungs. Shiro buried his nose into Keith’s hair and just breathed. 

“If it’s so bony, I could just go find somewhere else to sleep?”

“You think you could walk all the way there?”

“I could.” Keith frowned but made no effort to leave, not when Shiro’s bed was soft and his body ached every time his heart beat. Pride almost made him try, but not even that could get him to leave Shiro’s side. Not now, not ever again. He closed his eyes and  _harumphed_  quietly, poking Shiro in the ribs and earning himself a groan. “Sorry, must be the elbows.”

He felt more than heard Shiro laugh, like a ripple moving through water, and Keith didn’t know how to hold on to it before it floated away. He’d just have to make it happen again, he decided. He’d have the chance.  
  
“Not so bony now. You’ve…” Shiro whispered, something rough along the grain of his voice. Keith tried to look up, but moving too much would move Shiro. It wasn’t worth the effort.

“I remember some things,” he added. “There was…”  
  
There was too much. Too many things were siphoning through his thoughts, faster than Shiro could process. Flashes of memories that were too vivid interspersed those that were far too dull. Trying to work the dishwasher. The shock of Lotor’s first landing. Allura’s tongue poking past her lips as she tried to aim through a game controller. Pidge yelling  _No_.  
  
Later.  
  
There would be later. After everything, Shiro had a chance for later and that felt so unfairly good. “Was she really your mom?”  
  
Keith inhaled sharply, his spine suddenly a tight cord of tension. Then he pressed close and rubbed his nose against the front of Shiro’s shirt, and it faded just as quickly. “Yeah.” He sounded rougher than Shiro had ever heard him. Shiro was at a bit of a disadvantage, but he held on as tight as he could. “I have a mom. I… I have a mom.”  
  
Shiro pulled away, only going far enough that he could see Keith’s face. Keith swiped at his eyes instinctively, but he was smiling. It was a small thing, his mouth twisting like he could seal in the words, and he almost looked scared. Scared and excited, but his mouth remained tightly shut. That was more for later then.  
  
It was unspeakably better knowing Keith would be part of his later.  
  
“And a wolf too.” Keith whispered.   
  
Shiro laughed. It sounded a little loud, even to his own ears, but when he spoke, he bled sincerity. “Good. You… you should have them.”  
  
_You should have everything._

Keith smiled like he wasn’t sure he could believe Shiro or that he deserved to be so happy, but he wasn’t one to argue. “It’s nice. I didn’t think it would be like this.”

“I’m glad you found your family.”

“I always had a family, Shiro. I had you.” Dark violet eyes held more, promises and reassurances and worry. Some things never changed. “Now rest, you’ve had a long day.”

“I think we both have.” Shiro watched as Keith swallowed a yawn, body pushed so far past its limits and already dragging himself down into sleep. He inched himself closer, arm slung long around the bare skin of Shiro’s waist, holding on even as he drifted off to make sure nothing would separate them ever again.

Relief spilled through Shiro. He was back, really truly alive. He’d never let himself hope for so much, but Keith had never given up on him and now the universe rested beside him. They would never give up on each other. He closed those few inches between them and brushed his lips against Keith’s. A gentle ghost of a kiss, tentative and brief. So much was the same and everything was changing. 

He felt Keith’s heart stutter, felt his hand slide across his back, down to Shiro’s waist where it tightened. Keith’s eyes didn’t open the whole way. Shiro knew Keith was holding his breath, and was pretty sure he’d stopped in sympathy. Then Keith moved closer. It was another kiss. Soft and chaste, as light as a butterfly’s wings, but Keith’s nose brushed against his, and Shiro’s ribs felt too tight.

“I love you too.”

Together, they slept as the Black Lion carried her paladins home.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find Dans [here.](http://itdans.tumblr.com/)  
> Rune's tumblr is [here](http://runicscribbles.tumblr.com/) and our joint twitter is [here.](http://twitter.com/runicscribbles)
> 
> Please comment if you enjoyed! Come say hello. :)


End file.
